Kent Conrad: “History is going to judge us, whether or not we were up to this challenge and whether or not we were true patriots.”

The surviving spouse provisions are especially important with regard to offsetting some of the unfairness that exists elsewhere.

It lifts the bottom. It asks those of us at the top to take a little less of an increase than we might have expected.

We also increase the payroll tax very modestly, from the current combined rate of 12.4 percent to 13.4 percent over 10 years.

I urge you to vote for the confirmation of Dave Turk. I urge you to do it quickly.